MAYOR TARGETS RAVE PARTIES

Before it was shut down last year, Club XL on the West Side allegedly kept
an emergency medical technician on the premises in case a teenager
attending one of its notorious "rave" parties overdosed on drugs.

Surgical masks were available for people using inhalants so they could get
a better high. And baby pacifiers were given out to counter the involuntary
teeth-clenching that comes with using Ecstasy, police said.

On Tuesday, Daley used the shuttered club at 766 W. Jackson as a backdrop
for a crackdown he called long overdue. The mayor said it's time to jail
the owners of buildings where raves are held, instead of fining them or
allowing them to slip through the regulatory cracks because they sell
bottled water and juices, not liquor.

"The people who run rave parties or own the rooms where they take place
know exactly what's going on, but the city does not have sufficient powers
to hold them responsible."

For years, Chicago teenagers and pre-teens have been paying anywhere from
$15 to $25 to attend underground raves, which usually start in the wee
hours and can last until 10 a.m.

In 1999, Chicago Police started finding kids unconscious at such parties as
designer drugs like Ecstasy gained in popularity across the city. Ecstasy,
GHB and nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, are the drugs of choice at the parties.

Ecstasy is "starting to overtake cocaine and heroin" as the drug of choice
among young people, with sometimes deadly consequences, particularly when
mixed with the sedating drug GHB, said Dr. Tim Erickson, emergency room
physician at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center.

In all of 1998, Chicago police seized just 11 Ecstasy tablets. One year
later, 72,237 tablets were seized.

"Ecstasy has now overtaken heroin as the No. 1 drug in Europe, so this is
not going to go away. It's easier to make. "It's cheaper to buy, and we're
going to see a lot of it." Erickson said. "A lot of these kids don't know
what they're taking. It's peer-group pressure, so they're taking whatever
they're given.

"They think they're taking Ecstasy at times," he said, "and they may
actually be taking a more potent amphetamine, resulting in high
temperatures and seizures. We're not talking 102, 103, but 107, 108, 109
[degrees.]"

Keith Ware, a Chicago DJ who used to play at raves, said drugs are indeed
part of the rave culture, just as LSD and marijuana were part of the 1960s
and '70s rock 'n' roll culture.

"It's not something you can avoid, and it's not going to go away because of
an ordinance." He said many raves now take place outside of the city, and
the previous anti-rave ordinance accelerated that trend.

Ware said the walk-in cooler and EMT at Club XL were signs the venue had
improved since the time he used to spin records there.

"Two years ago when somebody OD'd they'd just put him out in the parking lot."

Last year, the City Council decided to license raves and slap $10,000 fines
on everyone from the owner, lessee and manager to the party producer,
presenter and disc jockey of unlicensed parties. The ordinance has been
used four times since then. Two of the cases resulted in default judgments,
one in a finding of liability. The fourth case--against Club XL--is now on
trial.

Daley's ordinance would tighten the regulatory noose.

Patterned after the so-called drug-and gang-house ordinance that has been
used to jail just one landlord since 1996, it would hold building owners,
lessors, managers, agents and employees criminally responsible for
"knowingly maintaining a place where controlled substances are used,
distributed, manufactured or stored." Mandatory jail terms would range from
two weeks to six months.

Daley said he's prepared to do whatever it takes to protect young people
even if it means seizing the cars parked outside raves at all hours of the
day and night.

But the mayor said parents need to step up and take responsibility for
their children's actions.

"You wonder where the parents are. . . . It's a sad comment. They should
really come forward and save another child's life," he said.

"If they don't come forward and help us, maybe a younger child or the
neighbor's child will go to one of these rave parties and end up in the
emergency room."

PARTY BASICS

WHAT'S A RAVE? A party, usually held all night long, at which loud "techno"
or "house" music is played. At some raves, ravers take different chemicals.

WHERE DID RAVES START? Raves were thought to have began in the late 1980s
in England. Enthusiast of Acid House music began gathering in fields,
playing music all night long and partying. When fields became too obvious,
they began breaking into abandoned warehouses and began indoor raves.

WHERE THEY'RE HELD: They're usually held in a rented warehouse or other
large, nondescript building.

WHO'S INVITED: Often, they're by invitation only, but a large number are
open to the public. There's usually a cover charge.

WHAT THEY'RE LIKE: Visuals have a big role. Typically, a strobe light will
be used. Some raves put up big screens all over, with different colors.

WHAT'S SERVED: Everything from "smart drinks" (made with nutrients said to
help the body manufacture neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that
carry impulses to the brain) to Ecstasy and LSD can be found at some raves.

HOW TO FIND A RAVE: There are Internet sites--like www.raves.org--that
provide message boards and listserves to let people know about raves.